mind-set

Break open
So you can be part of the whole
So you can let
Whatever’s out there
In
Defense isn’t sensible
In the face of
Something or Someone
In your face
Have a Face-On
A smile is a gate
Entry to Open
Gateway to
Not Scared
Break the pattern
Hold nothing
But stillness, listening, be attention

“Three attitudes prevent us from receiving a continual flow of blessings. They are compared to three “pots”: a full pot, a pot with poison in it, and a pot with a hole in the bottom.

The pot that’s filled to the brim is like a mind full of opinions and preconceptions. We already know it all. We have so many fixed ideas that nothing new can affect us or cause us to question our assumptions.

The pot containing poison is like a mind that’s so cynical, critical, and judgmental that everything is poisoned by this harshness. It allows for no openness and no willingness to explore the teachings or anything else that challenges our righteous stance.The pot with a hole is like a distracted mind: our body is present but we’re lost in thought. We’re so busy thinking about our dream vacation or what’s for dinner that we’re completely deaf to what’s being said.Knowing how sad it is to receive blessings and not be able to benefit, Shantideva wants to save himself grief by remaining open and attentive. Nothing will improve, he says, unless we become more intelligent about cause and effect. This is a message worth considering seriously.”

Her friend is a girl, very small, very particularly focussed on the chicken, whose name is Roxy. The girl will often sit and hold Roxy. She will hold her and Roxy will cluck and coo and chicken-gurgle. The girl knows when Roxy is going to lay an egg and she will sit there – both shes – and sit and sit until the egg is laid.

I have the feeling this chicken Roxy is living longer than a chicken usually gets to because she has company when she’s vulnerable. She has companionship when she is in the midst of her work. I’m told by those who live with chickens for their livelihood that a chicken’s life is short, perhaps two years, and they sometimes die while laying an egg. The girl says it takes Roxy about half an hour to lay an egg.

Can you see the heart?
This is an old shed a fox uses. Luckily my dog Cho was not paying all that much attention when the fox ran out when Cho was just outside. Cho was in back, sniffing – his obsession worked for the fox who ran out the front.
Peaches are coming! We are learning how to care for the tree – our friend Barb went to a workshop and came back with great directions for good peaches!
Thank you Barb!
Barb with our girls. They look like a heart to me too.

Pam White is a life coach, painter, photographer, poet and the founder of Pam White is a life coach, painter, photographer, poet and the founder of Insight Coaching. She brings over thirty years of meditation practice to her work with clients.Insight Coaching. She brings over thirty years of meditation practice to her work with clients.

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